This is David Smithson Michaels, welcoming you back to another edition of DUCK SNORTS. It looks like Spring Training is getting close to the end, and Opening Day is only a few more weeks away. As players compete for those final roster spots, and managers work on their lineups, here’s what’s been happening in baseball the past few weeks:
A DUCK SNORT GOODBYE TO TWO BASEBALL WARRIORS: This past week, two of baseball’s most beloved veterans said goodbye to the game they love so much, one by choice, one not by choice. In Florida, Mr. Marlin Jeff Conine, an integral part of the team’s storied 1997 and 2003 World Championships, announced he would sign a one-day contract with the team and retire before an exhibition game against the New York Yankees. While the forty-one year old showed last year that he still had some sock left in his bat, I can respect his decision to leave the game, and wish him the best in whatever the future holds for him.
In sadder news, the Boston Red Sox, possibly caught up in dangerous post-World-Series drunken euphoria, decided that they would no longer need the services of long-time backup catcher Doug Mirabelli. As the catcher for wily knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, Mirabelli was an important piece of the Red Sox’s drive to Reverse The Curse in 2004. Without him, the Red Sox will be forced to use a catcher that’s not familiar with catching the knuckleball, which is a very specialized skill. Ironically enough, the Red Sox made this mistake before in 2006, letting Mirabelli go to the Padres and using unheralded catcher Josh Bard as Wakefield’s caddy. That didn’t work out so well, as the Red Sox ended up trading for Mirabelli shortly after the season began (ironically, for Bard and reliever Cla Meredith). History shows that this happened once before, so it’s likely it will happen again.
Worse, some teammates are distraught over their friend’s release. Because of his invaluable experience and tutelage, his leaving will be a shock that many of the team’s rookies and second-year players, including reigning ROY Dustin Pedroia and World Series hero Jacoby Ellsbury, might not be able to cope with. Even veterans, like Jason Varitek and David Ortiz, could find themselves unwilling to put forth the 110% they need to bring to the field every day. It’s also not out of the realm of possibility to think Wakefield might be so disenchanted without his battery mate on the team that he could potentially retire, decimating an already weakened pitching staff. It looks like yet another Moneyball team is trying to cut corners in their payroll by not paying for talent. If my predictions come to pass, then it looks like the Red Sox are going to end up paying a bigger price than they imagined, and will spend the 2008 season looking up at the Yankees like they usually do.
DESPITE SOME BAD TEST SCORES, YANKEES ARE STILL THE CLASS OF BASEBALL: Some teams just cannot get a break. In the past two weeks, the Yankees have had to deal with offering funnyman Billy Crystal an honorary start in a Spring Training game, fan favorite Shelley Duncan seeking payback against the Tampa Bay Rays for a bushleague home plate collision, and World Series hero Jim Leyritz visiting camp just months after being charged with DUI manslaughter and other misdemeanors.
When you’re the Yankees — the winningest franchise in all of professional sports — everyone’s looking to take a shot at you. Unfortunately, these shots nowadays are coming from the media as often, if not more often, than from competing teams. Newspapers, TV networks, even bloggers — there’s a certain responsibility that comes with having the ability to broadcast information and opinions, and it’s a shame that so many outlets are using their power to take down such a venerable institution as the New York Yankees. If baseball teams were as worried about the Yankees as reporters were, maybe some other teams would be in the Yankees’ position as the class of Major League Baseball. Either way, it’s something to think about.
PIRATES MAKE ANOTHER HUGE MISTAKE, SIGN IAN SNELL TO LONG-TERM CONTRACT: If there’s one thing that can be said about the Pittsburgh Pirates, it’s that they’re an organization that doesn’t know what it’s doing. With the hiring of new GM Neal Huntington and CEO Kevin McClatchey stepping down, it looked like the Pirates were going to right their ship (pardon the pun). The signing of 26-year-old starting pitcher Ian Snell to a long-term contract, however, shows that it’s just poor business as usual in Heinz Field. Signing Snell to a three-year, $8 million contract will go down with the long-term deals given to former Pirates Kevin Young and Ryan Benjamin as supreme follies. To buy out the arbitration years of a losing pitcher (9-12) when proven starters like Kyle Loshe and Jeff Weaver are available for the taking is a poor utilization of resources. The Pirates need to make moves that show their dwindling fanbase that they’re serious about returning the franchise to the days of Andy Van Slyke and Doug Drabek and Mike LaVallierre. Instead, it looks like the new Pirates regime is going to make the fans execute their own Operation: Shutdown.
CHAN HO PARK TRIES TO START INTERNATIONAL INCIDENT, RUIN BASEBALL IN ASIA: This weekend, Major League Baseball played their first ever games in mainland China. Unfortunately, an incident following the game threatens the sport’s health in one of the world’s most populated regions. After the first game — a 3-3 tie between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres — Korean fans tried to get the autograph of Dodger starter Chan Ho Park. Before he could sign any autographs, though, Chinese guards formed a wall between Park and the fans. Despite the guards’ insistence on not allowing the fans through, Park made like a prima donna, yelling at the guards to stand aside and let the fans through so he could soothe his ego.
Park is best known for signing one of the first ludicrous free agent contracts of recent history, earning over $13 million a year for 5 years from the Texas Rangers. Despite the responsibilities that come with such a contract, Park did his best to pitch his worst. As a result, it’s no surprise that he caused such a stir just as MLB was making onroads in Asia. This seems to be just a smaller example of the difficulty that Commissioner Bud Selig has had with the players since he first took office. Time will only tell what impact this incident has on the upcoming two-game series between the Boston Red Sox and Oakland A’s. Here’s hoping that the Japanese government lets these two teams “play ball” without any more incidents.
David Smithson Michaels’ NCAA Tournament dark horse is Winthrop. Go Eagles!